Confidence DVD Review

Presented in 2.35:1 Anamorphic widescreen the print looks very clean and colourful. There are a few niggles to start with, firstly there is the old problem of edge enhancement which whilst not in every scene, is rather annoying in at least two main scenes where it causes halos. The print also has a few specks of dirt here and there and quite a large amount of grain during some darker scenes.

However it is not all bad news as the style of the film holds up very well, the strong primary colours used do no exhibit any blooming or bleed and appear well saturated. The film uses quick cutting techniques and it appears solid with no signs of encoding problems or digital artefacts. The super close ups used on faces also holds up well with plenty of detail on show.

Overall the image appears sharp and detailed with good colour reproduction and only a few small niggles to worry about, not a bad effort at all.

Being a dialogue heavy movie the Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is not really pushed very hard. The dialogue sounds rich and clear and very easy to understand, the voice over at the beginning comes across using effective panning between the channels to appear to hang in front of the screen.

The surrounds do occasionally come to life using music and other effects to create an enveloping feel, providing an effective sense of ambiance. Music is also very strong with excellent clarity and dynamics and quite a heavy LFE presence.

Overall this is not an aggressive mix, but sounds just right for this type of feature creating an ambient feel.

The extra presentations are a little disjointed with the commentaries available under the Set up menu only and the trailers can only be accessed by pressing the Lions Gate Logo at the bottom of the menu page. The three commentary tracks offered are effective and interesting listening for fans of the movie, however I have never been inclined to listen to the whole of one commentary track never mind three in one sitting. Also provided is an excellent Anatomy of a scene featurette which is more than the usual electronic press material. Produced for the sundance channel the feature explores every aspect of filming the introduction scene for the new gang. This is good viewing and is recommended. Also included are 11 minutes of outtakes mainly featuring Dustin Hoffman and a soundtrack presentation with two music videos, and that's it.
A very enjoyable sting movie with excellent performances and direction, presented on a good disc which has some interesting extras.